The Villainess Lives Twice
chapter-271-30041322

Chapter 271

Proofreader: somnium

It was when Hayley came out of the study with her barely completed report.

A middle-aged man was standing right in front of the door. Hayley sighed. Her desire to pretend she didn’t notice him was bubbling.

But she couldn’t just ignore the mayor’s secretary.

“You know. Her Grace is not seeing anyone.”

“I’m not asking for an unreasonable formal audience, am I? Just a moment to bless Young Master Wello…….”

The secretary said anxiously. Wello, the old mayor’s son, was only three years old.

Although it has not spread to this area, it is a time when the plague is circulating. She could understand the mayor’s desire to bless his young son, even if he was rude to the Crown Princess.

Hayley felt like she wanted to let him go, too.

But she couldn’t make an exception.

If she allows the three year-olds, what about the five year-olds? Seven-year-olds?

What about the elderly who are prone to illness? What about those who are already sick?

Once she starts allowing, they’ll never stop getting requests for visits. Now, security is on guard, but as long as the Knights of Evron are moving, the administrative officials and the castle lords cannot be unaware.

Then, if there is even a rumor that the Saintess is here, pilgrims and sick people will gather like clouds.

When a plague circulates and people move to that place, the transmission is bound to accelerate.

[“I have no healing power. We have no choice but to keep security and maintain quarantine as we are now.”]

When Hayley asked what she was going to do, Artizea replied bluntly.

It was hard for Hayley to comprehend, for she vividly remembers the miracle at the Harvest Festival.

[“The incident at that time was over with just one time. You can think of luck as having a miracle.”]

Artizea said so, so there was no way Hayley could say otherwise.

She felt like her head would explode when she acted on behalf of Artizea.

“Sorry. Her Highness, she is really ill.”

Hayley just said so. What would the secretary do? The Crown Princess collapsed from fatigue and it is difficult to meet people.

Hayley left the secretary there.

And she took a deep breath in front of Artizea’s door.

“I’ll go in, Your Highness.”

There was no answer from within.

Hayley opened the door. It had been several days since Artizea had not answered. She was used to it now.

All the wooden shutters were closed, so it was dark even in broad daylight. The smell of the candles was smoky.

Artizea sat looking at the wall with the map on it. There were notes here and there with red and black ink. These were notes that had no meaning for Hayley.

“You’re here?”

Artizea’s complexion was dyed black as she looked back. In the darkness, only blue eyes shone like luminescence.

“You’ve been up all night again.”

“I can not sleep.”

“Then, you should lie in bed and close your eyes.”

Hayley said.

She was weak from the beginning, and it got worse after she collapsed from fatigue of proclaiming the oracle.

Hayley didn’t think Artizea had ever come to the West at all.

She knows Artizea, and she probably hasn’t slept well since the bodies of Alphonse and the knights came.

Hayley was an Evron accustomed to death. In other words, she was accustomed to the death of someone close to her.

‘I’m glad she wasn’t trying to be a bait like how I was worried when she first came to the West.’

It was natural that the death of the knights was painful. But she didn’t think Artizea would go this far.

She was also worried for Lysia. She knew that Artizea had a special regard for Lysia, and that she loved Lysia like her only friend.

Hayley was also worried about Lysia. She was a relative with whom she spent childhood. Lysia wasn’t that different from a sister.

But now Artizea was not normal.

Would she rather use medicine to make Artizea sleep? So she fell asleep and when she woke up, she might admit to herself that she also needed some rest.

Artizea murmured,

“Because I don’t want my flow of thoughts to be interrupted.”

“You should have ventilation. Alice must have done nothing.”

Hayley deliberately mentioned Alice. It was because she thought it would be able to elicit more of a reaction from Artizea.

And she was right. Artizea said as if making excuses,

“I told her to leave it alone because I can focus more on this side than it did when it got brighter and then darkened.”

“Then can I open it now?”

Artizea nodded her head. Hayley blew out several candles, walked over to the window and opened the shutters.

Fresh air rushed in all at once.

Artizea let out a big sigh. Then, as if her head hurts, she rested her forehead on the cushion and sat down.

“The news you have been waiting for has arrived.”

“Summarize it. My head hurts.”

Hayley put the report with the original letters from all over the place on the desk.

“It was just as Your Highness said. We can’t even confirm the identity, but considering the increase or decrease in the number, it seems that most of the bandits that have disappeared from this area are moving to the basin of the Ava River.”

Hayley thought it was surprising.

Where they are now is originally one of the most violent areas in the West.

But by the time they arrived, it was strangely quiet.

Even though the castle lords who regularly subdue bandits were unable to send out their subjugation troops due to the plague.

There was no way the bandits could move while taking care of the plague, so it was correct to assume that the movement occurred as a whole.

“How did you know?”

“Because a thief can move only with money.”

Artizea responded.

Even if a wealthy person wants to gain a force, it takes years to raise an army.

But Lawrence didn’t have that patience. Moreover, he did not aim to rule.

It must have been the easiest way to recruit bandits with money rather than wasting one’s heart.

“Write down the information you brought on the map with a red pen.”

“Yes. I’ll do it, so in the meantime, Your Highness, close your eyes, even for a moment. It’s good to eat something. Alice almost fought while begging the chef to keep the soup warm.”

“Yes.”

Artizea answered, but did not stand up. Because she didn’t want to show what was causing her vertigo.

It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling to have so many people worrying about her. It’s not that she has to endure so as not to show her weakness like before, but she has to endure so that she doesn’t cause worries.

She doesn’t deserve it.

Artizea leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes. Her lower eyelids were dry and tingling.

The sound of Hayley taking notes made her body heavier. But maybe because she was too tired, she couldn’t sleep.

‘I think I’m going to have a terrible dream when I fall asleep.’

In order not to collapse when she was really needed, she had to keep her stamina intact. Artizea knew it, too.

Hayley said in a light voice on purpose,

“Don’t worry too much. Lysia is a strong girl. Whether she was kidnapped for political reasons, or he knew Lysia as the Saint and sought her healing powers, we’ll have to wait and see. He’s not going to kill her.”

“That won’t do. If we do, we will be late.”

The opponent was Lawrence. It was not aimed at her healing powers, nor was it for political purposes.

Once Artizea herself had professed to have received her oracle, Lysia was politically useless.

And Lawrence was not a person who could amass power through healing and grace with a long-term view and virtue.

So, it would be right to think that Lawrence’s target is Lysia herself.

She seemed to understand now.

Actions come from purpose. Purpose comes from desire.

At the base of Lawrence’s psychology, there was resentment and anger that he was deprived of what he deserved.

In the past, what he ‘deserved’ was his inheritance, the Empire.

And Lawrence once had that Empire.

However, human desires do not change easily. Because it comes from all life experiences.

The purpose is achieved, but the desire remains. So the subject must have changed.

The possibilities were sufficient. Lawrence couldn’t win Lysia’s heart in the end.

‘If he sees Miss Lysia as something he ‘should have’, that will be able to explain with coherent logic what he has done so far.’

Spread the plague in the West and made a mess. Because Lysia will try to stop the Western Plague.

Frame Cedric and made the people of the Capital aware of discrimination against the North. Because Lysia cherishes Cedric.

Burned the pier. In order to increase a political burden on Cedric and dry up the North to death.

At the same time, intensifying the conflicting elements inherent to the North. Because Lysia cherishes Evron.

Despite the overwhelming force, he dared to kill Alphonse and her escort knights. To torment Lysia.

She came to understand the logic of action. So she could guess what he would do next.

He will destroy everything Lysia cherishes. Just like before her return.

She has been thinking and thinking like crazy for the past few weeks.

What he would have planned to pressure Cedric.

What he did and what he didn’t do. She also wondered what Lawrence would be discussing.

So in the end there was only one conclusion.

Artizea placed the back of her hand around her eyes.

‘I should have killed him as soon as I came back.’

More than this, she didn’t think there would be anything more to blame.

She had once destroyed an Empire. When she came back, she partially followed Cedric’s principles, but only partially.

The justification for reducing the total amount of sacrifice was not just. What does that have to do with the innocent victims who are actually swept away?

If there is an afterlife and retaliation takes place, it would be impossible to pay for all those sins even with an immortal body.

Cedric said that was his first choice. The responsibility is his own, and the past has become a thing of the past.

However, in the end, Artizea herself decided to use a cause and conspire to raise Cedric to the throne.

What has been done in the past has not gone away. Of those who died by this plague, they became blood on Artizea’s hand.

It was something everyone knew.

But now, Artizea regretted something she hadn’t thought of for the first time.

‘I should have just killed Brother and Mother that day.’

If it had been so, all of this would have disappeared.

After that, the world would have flowed in order.

Wasn’t that God’s will?

That she will undo everything she has done.

‘Not…… not now.’

Artizea had another thought that had been repeated for several days.

There was a way to kill Lawrence even now. Not as clumsy as Miraila’s, but a curse that could bring about real death.

But what about Lysia?

Those under Lawrence are bandits. What if Lawrence dies and they appear again?

Lysia was a skilled archer and was also good at marksmanship. But she was alone.

The bandits couldn’t let the young woman go. She didn’t even think Lysia could escape.

Even if she escapes, a plain teeming with bandits awaits in front of her.

“Hayley.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to Ava.”

If Lawrence decides to bring the destruction of the West into Lysia’s eyes, the next move is to incur flood damage.

It spreads the plague directly by sweeping away some areas, and at the same time paralyzes the administrative power to break the quarantine line.

And Lawrence would have already known well where he would have to burst to flood the Ava River*.

(*Note from Somnium and effe: it was what Tia had used to trap Cedric in the past. So more or less, things that happened in the earlier chapters were coming back!)